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MS puts Lar contract changes on hold

Microsoft has postponed making changes to its Lar contracts for at least six months as it debates ways of establishing a direct relationship with its largest customers.

Microsoft representatives said Lar contracts, which will expire on 30 June, would remain virtually unchanged when they are reissued at the end of May, but confirmed discussions were taking place over how Lars would alter in the future.

Last month, the software giant delayed announcing changes to Lar contracts in its annual review until at least mid-April and confirmed it was looking at ways of adopting more direct relationships with enterprise agreement (EA) customers (PC Dealer, 24 March).

Jonathan Downes, UK volume licence programme manager at Microsoft, said: 'There was a lot of thinking going on in the US and the speed of some comments there caught us by surprise. All I can say is that we have to reissue Lar contracts 30 days prior to their expiry.'

He refused to be drawn on the nature of the discussions: 'It is a hypothetical issue - there is no point speculating on what might differ. But there will be no dramatic changes for at least six months.'

But observers said it was only a matter of time before Microsoft played an active role in contract discussions with EA customers.

David Cumming, UK vice president at Corporate Software and Technology, said it was still unclear whether any contract changes will be made. 'But price determination by Microsoft is not something I am adverse to,' he added.